Bless Me, Ultima (Chapters 17-22)

All good things must come to an end. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya, was one of those things and unfortunately this relaxing read has reached its conclusion. Unlike the rest of the book, the ending is disappointing. I liked the idea that Anaya wanted each individual reader to create their own ending, but I would have liked it better if she told us the life path that Antonio was going to take. I thought that he would follow in Ultima's footsteps, but now I am left wondering. Using the clues in the conclusion I do not think that he followed his brothers or Ultima and good for him. By the end he became an individual who could decide things for himself, he grew up in this novel and became a man. Antonio's First Communion was a big event in his life and unfortunately his questions to God were left unanswered. I feel bad for this boy, who has lost a lot, and now all of his questions that he believed would be answered were just left to be wondered. I believe that by God not answering all of Antonio's questions, it made his decision not to be a priest a lot easier.


Another event that changed Antonio's thinking was all of the deaths that he had to see. The deaths of Lupito, Floorence, Narciso, Tenerio, Tenerio's two daughters, and Ultima all made Antonio think and question his faith and who he is as a person. I don't blame Antonio for wanting answers to all of his questions because as humans we all have questions that will never be answered and that is a shame. The fact that Antonio survived all of these deaths emotionally shows that he is truly a strong individual that can take on anything. The deaths transformed an innocent boy into a man stuck with reality. My prediction that Ultima would eventually die did come true. Anaya used foreshadowing to guild the readers into predicting what would come next. I do wish that I could find out the true ending, but in the end all of the evil was washed out of Antonio's life and he learned many life lessons that made him stronger.